Celibacy, Seminary Formation, and Catholic Clerical Sexual Abuse

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Author :
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1040024750
Total Pages : 145 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (4 download)

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Book Synopsis Celibacy, Seminary Formation, and Catholic Clerical Sexual Abuse by : Vivencio O. Ballano

Download or read book Celibacy, Seminary Formation, and Catholic Clerical Sexual Abuse written by Vivencio O. Ballano and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-04-30 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does the current celibate, semi-monastic, and all-male seminary formation contribute to the persistence of clerical sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church? Applying sociological theories on socialization, total institutions, and social resistance as the primary conceptual framework, and drawing on secondary literature, media reports, the author’s experience, interviews, and Church documents, this book argues that the Catholic Church’s institution of the celibate seminary formation as the only mode of clerical training for Catholic priests has resulted in negative unintended consequences to human formation such as the suspension of normal human socialization in society, psychosexual immaturity, and weak social control against clerical sexual abuse. The author thus contends that celibate training, while suitable for those who do live in religious or monastic communities, is inappropriate for those who are obliged to live alone and work in parishes. As such, an alternative model for diocesan clerical formation is advanced. A fresh look at the aptness – and effects – of celibate formation for diocesan clergy, this volume is the first to relate the persistence of Catholic clerical sexual abuse to celibate seminary formation, exploring the structural links between the two using sociological arguments and proposing an apprenticeship-based model of formation, which has numerous advantages as a form of clerical training. It will therefore appeal to scholars and students of religion, sociology, and theology, as well as those involved with seminary formation.

Celibacy, Seminary Formation, and Catholic Clerical Sexual Abuse

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 9781032722498
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (224 download)

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Book Synopsis Celibacy, Seminary Formation, and Catholic Clerical Sexual Abuse by : VIVENCIO. BALLANO

Download or read book Celibacy, Seminary Formation, and Catholic Clerical Sexual Abuse written by VIVENCIO. BALLANO and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2024-04-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Applying sociological theories, this book argues that the Catholic Church's adoption of mandatory clerical celibacy has resulted in various negative consequences, including weak social control against clerical sexual abuse, and so advocates a new model of clerical formation.

The Struggle for Celibacy

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Author :
Publisher : Herder & Herder
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 286 pages
Book Rating : 4.X/5 (3 download)

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Book Synopsis The Struggle for Celibacy by : Paul Stanosz

Download or read book The Struggle for Celibacy written by Paul Stanosz and published by Herder & Herder. This book was released on 2006 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Priests, seminaries, and celibacy -- Celibacy and contemporary Catholicism -- Reproducing celibacy as a cultural process -- Observing celibacy: methodology for a study -- Conceiving celibacy -- Commitment production at St. Mark's Seminary -- Reproducing father -- Remaking seminaries

Sexual Abuse and the Culture of Catholicism

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0789029553
Total Pages : 162 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (89 download)

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Book Synopsis Sexual Abuse and the Culture of Catholicism by : Myra L. Hidalgo

Download or read book Sexual Abuse and the Culture of Catholicism written by Myra L. Hidalgo and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sexual Abuse and the Culture of Catholicism digs beneath the public scandals to explore the underlying causes of sexual abuse by priests and nuns from the unique perspective of an abuse victim/survivor who is an experienced mental health practitioner and social science researcher. This powerful book includes the author's personal account of sexual abuse by a nun and her years of struggle to recover. Passionate but scholarly and objective, the book advocates the need for healing dialogue, empirical research, and informed prevention strategies to bring a meaningful resolution to the crisis of sexual abuse in the church.

Why Celibacy?: Reclaiming the Fatherhood of the Priest

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Author :
Publisher : Emmaus Road Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1949013332
Total Pages : 134 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (49 download)

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Book Synopsis Why Celibacy?: Reclaiming the Fatherhood of the Priest by : Fr. Carter Griffin

Download or read book Why Celibacy?: Reclaiming the Fatherhood of the Priest written by Fr. Carter Griffin and published by Emmaus Road Publishing. This book was released on 2019-07-01 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The Church today demands a profound renewal of celibate priesthood and the fatherhood to which it is ordered.” Priestly celibacy, some say, is an outdated relic from another age. Others see it as a lonely way of life. But as Fr. Carter Griffin argues in Why Celibacy?: Reclaiming the Fatherhood of the Priest, the ancient practice of celibacy, when lived well, helps a priest exercise his spiritual fatherhood joyfully and fruitfully. Along the way, Griffin explores: the question of optional celibacy some pitfalls of celibate paternity the selection and formation of candidates for celibate priesthood why biological fathers are also called to spiritual fatherhood the powerful impact of celibacy on the Church and the wider culture In a critical moment for the Catholic priesthood, Fr. Griffin brings light and hope with a new perspective on the Church’s perennial wisdom on celibacy.

Sex, Priests, and Power

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Author :
Publisher : Psychology Press
ISBN 13 : 9780876307694
Total Pages : 250 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (76 download)

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Book Synopsis Sex, Priests, and Power by : A. W. Richard Sipe

Download or read book Sex, Priests, and Power written by A. W. Richard Sipe and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richard Sipe examines the continuing sexual crisis facing the Catholic Church today. Has the storm of publicity and controversy caused the church to acknowledge any of the accusations? Will the church accept statistical evidence or alter the way it trains its clergy? How has it come to grips with reforming or retraining abusers? Has it acknowledged the spread of AIDS among its ranks? Why does the church oppress women and react with hostility and fear towards them? Sex, Priests, and Power: Anatomy of a Crisis addresses these and other questions.

Predatory Priests, Silenced Victims

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1136648402
Total Pages : 214 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (366 download)

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Book Synopsis Predatory Priests, Silenced Victims by : Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea

Download or read book Predatory Priests, Silenced Victims written by Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-05-06 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church captured headlines and mobilized public outrage in January 2002. But much of the commentary that immediately followed was reductionistic, focusing on single "causes" of clerical abuse such as mandatory celibacy, homosexuality, sexual repressiveness or sexual permissiveness, anti-Catholicism, and a decadent secular culture. Predatory Priests, Silenced Victims: The Sexual Abuse Crisis and the Catholic Church, a collection of groundbreaking articles edited by Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea and Virginia Goldner, eschews such one-size-fits-all theorizing. In its place, the abuse situation is explored in all its troubling complexity, as contributors take into account the experiences, respectively, of the victim/survivor, the abuser/perpetrator, and the bystander (whether family member, professional/clergy, or the community at large). Setting polemics to the side, Predatory Priests, Silenced Victims provides a sober and sobering analysis of the interlacing historical, doctrinal, and psychological issues that came together in the sexual abuse scandal. It is mandatory reading for all who seek thoughtful, informed commentary on a crisis long in the making and yet to be resolved.

Perversion of Power

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Author :
Publisher : Vanderbilt University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780826515476
Total Pages : 340 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (154 download)

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Book Synopsis Perversion of Power by : Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea

Download or read book Perversion of Power written by Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea and published by Vanderbilt University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since 2002, the Roman Catholic Church has been in crisis over the sexual abuse of minors by priests and the cover-up of those crimes by bishops. Over 11,000 alleged victims have reported their experiences to the Church, and more than 4,700 priests since 1950 have been credibly accused of sexually victimizing minors. The Church has paid over one billion dollars to adults who claim to have been sexually abused by priests and there is no end in sight to these lawsuits. Celibacy, homosexuality in the priesthood, the infiltration into the priesthood of secular moral relativism, too much liberalism in the Church since Vatican II, damaging rollback of Vatican II reforms by conservative prelates--all have been suggested as causes for the crisis. This book, however, begins with the premise that, because the pattern of abuse and cover-up was so similar across the world, there is something fundamentally awry with Church traditions and power structures in relationship to sexuality and sexual abuse. Specifically, in chapters on suffering and sadomasochism, bodies and gender, desire and sexuality, celibacy and homosexuality, the author concludes that aspects of the Catholic theology of sexuality set the stage for the abuse of minors and its cover-up. Frawley-O'Dea also analyzes the American bishops' lack of pastoral care and tendency towards clerical narcissism--the belief that the needs of the hierarchy represent the needs of the wider Church--as central factors in the scandal. She balances this criticism with a discussion of the backgrounds of the bishops presiding over the crisis and the challenges they faced in their relationships with the Pope and Vatican officials. Drawing on twenty years of clinical experience, she imagines the dynamics of sexual abuse both from the victim's point of view and from the priest's, and she probes why the Church hierarchy, fellow priests, and lay people were silent for so long. Finally, Frawley-O'Dea examines factors internal to the Church and outside of it that drew this scandal into the public square and kept it there.

Sexual Abuse and the Culture of Catholicism

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1136867937
Total Pages : 162 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (368 download)

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Book Synopsis Sexual Abuse and the Culture of Catholicism by : Myra L Hidalgo

Download or read book Sexual Abuse and the Culture of Catholicism written by Myra L Hidalgo and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-10-12 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An inside look at the reasons Catholic priests and nuns commit sexual abuse Sexual Abuse and the Culture of Catholicism digs beneath the public scandals to explore the underlying causes of sexual abuse by priests and nuns from the unique perspective of an abuse victim/survivor who is an experienced mental health practitioner and social science researcher. This powerful book includes the author’s personal account of sexual abuse by a nun and her years of struggle to recover. Passionate but scholarly and objective, the book advocates the need for healing dialogue, empirical research, and informed prevention strategies to bring a meaningful resolution to the crisis of sexual abuse in the church. Popular explanations for the reasons behind the crisis have included issues related to celibacy, homosexuality, the power structure of the church, and poor seminary screening practices. But none of these theories are supported by research nor can they explain why Catholic priests and nuns may be more likely to abuse children that other adults in positions of trust. Sexual Abuse and the Culture of Catholicism uses a complex, systemic approach to draw parallels between the church as a human system and a family that has experienced incest, presenting a model for a sexual trauma cycle in the church based on systemic sexual shame passed down through the beliefs and practices of Catholicism. Sexual Abuse and the Culture of Catholicism examines: the prevalence and characteristics of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and nuns compared to sex offenders in the general population celibacy, homosexuality, and the power structure of the church as contributing factors in the sexual abuse crisis an analogy of the church as a family in which incest occurs the effects and causes of sexual offending from one generation to the next how current research on sexual offending applies to sexual abuse by priests and nuns healing and empowerment for those affected by religious-based sexual trauma reform and renewal within the Catholic Church and much more Sexual Abuse and the Culture of Catholicism is a unique and important resource for clergy, religious order, and lay leaders in the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations; social science researchers; social workers and mental health professionals; lay and religious members of the Catholic Church; and anyone recovering from religious-based sexual trauma.

Confessions of a Gay Priest

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Author :
Publisher : University of Iowa Press
ISBN 13 : 1609387090
Total Pages : 337 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (93 download)

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Book Synopsis Confessions of a Gay Priest by : Tom Rastrelli

Download or read book Confessions of a Gay Priest written by Tom Rastrelli and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2020-04-15 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tom Rastrelli is a survivor of clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse who then became a priest in the early days of the Catholic Church’s ongoing scandals. Confessions of a Gay Priest divulges the clandestine inner workings of the seminary, providing an intimate and unapologetic look into the psychosexual and spiritual dynamics of celibacy and lays bare the “formation” system that perpetuates the cycle of abuse and cover-up that continues today. Under the guidance of a charismatic college campus minister, Rastrelli sought to reconcile his homosexuality and childhood sexual abuse. When he felt called to the priesthood, Rastrelli began the process of “priestly discernment.” Priests welcomed him into a confusing clerical culture where public displays of piety, celibacy, and homophobia masked a closeted underworld in which elder priests preyed upon young recruits. From there he ventured deeper into the seminary system seeking healing, hoping to help others, and striving not to live a double life. Trained to treat sexuality like an addiction, he and his brother seminarians lived in a world of cliques, competition, self-loathing, alcohol, hidden crushes, and closeted sex. Ultimately, the “formation” intended to make Rastrelli a compliant priest helped to liberate him.

Celibacy in Crisis

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134001029
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (34 download)

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Book Synopsis Celibacy in Crisis by : A.W. Richard Sipe

Download or read book Celibacy in Crisis written by A.W. Richard Sipe and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-03 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the midst of the worst crisis the Catholic Church has seen in almost 500 years, this book challenges Catholic authorities to renew, rethink, or reform the long-standing institution of celibacy.

Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes

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Author :
Publisher : Bonus Books, Inc.
ISBN 13 : 1566252652
Total Pages : 400 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (662 download)

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Book Synopsis Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes by : Thomas P. Doyle

Download or read book Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes written by Thomas P. Doyle and published by Bonus Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2006 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults by Catholic clergy is not a new phenomenon. Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes reveals in shocking detail a deep-seated problem that spans the Church's history.

Sin against the Innocents

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 0313057796
Total Pages : 255 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (13 download)

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Book Synopsis Sin against the Innocents by : Thomas G. Plante Ph.D.

Download or read book Sin against the Innocents written by Thomas G. Plante Ph.D. and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2004-03-30 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Experts from a variety of fields join forces to show what fuels a most horrific violation of trust—sexual abuse by priests—and how the Church and church structure play a role in this abuse. This riveting work includes chapters by a former Director of the premiere U.S. facility treating clergy who are sexual offenders, by a Jesuit psychologist who authored the largest study of clergy sexual abusers ever completed, and from a Vatican Correspondent explaining the issues as seen by the Vatican. The text also includes an opening chapter by Michael Rezendes, a Boston Globe investigative reporter and member of the Spotlight Team that won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking the story of sexual abuse by clergy. A statement by the Executive Director of SNAP, the national support group for victims of clergy sexual abuse, is also included. This is the first book that gathers experts from a variety of fields to offer thoughtful, objective perspectives regarding what we know about sexual abuse by clergy and what we can do to solve the problem. Attention is given not only to psychological aspects of both the perpetrators and victims, but also to canon law, clergy misconduct review boards, the sexual/celibate agenda of the Church, the challenges for treatment facilities, and barriers to resolution that exist within the Roman Catholic Church.

Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church

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Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 0313393885
Total Pages : 285 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (133 download)

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Book Synopsis Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church by : Thomas G. Plante Ph.D.

Download or read book Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church written by Thomas G. Plante Ph.D. and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2011-10-20 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taking on a still-controversial topic, a diverse group of experts, including victims and clergy, offers reflections on the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, examining what the church has done—and what it still needs to do—to protect children. Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church: A Decade of Crisis, 2002–2012 is a thoughtful, multidisciplinary commentary. Beginning when the scandal first broke in Boston in 2002, this first-of-its-kind work offers a wide range of opinion, both positive and negative, on what has been done in the ensuing ten years to stop and prevent such abuse. Through the contributions here, readers can delve into the world of the church hierarchy and into the minds of abusive priests and their victims. The book presents the views of leading academics and psychologists, but also allows the church to speak. First-person insights from victims are shared, as in a chapter written by a woman abused by a clergy member as an adolescent. She explains what happened, the resulting trauma, how she healed, and what she thinks needs to be done to prevent future abuse—a subject that still makes headlines and stirs debate.

Gay Catholic Priests and Clerical Sexual Misconduct

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1136574395
Total Pages : 244 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (365 download)

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Book Synopsis Gay Catholic Priests and Clerical Sexual Misconduct by : Donald Boisvert

Download or read book Gay Catholic Priests and Clerical Sexual Misconduct written by Donald Boisvert and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-03-04 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Why did it take 30 years for American bishops to listen to the victims of Catholic clerical abuse?” Gay Catholic Priests and Clerical Sexual Misconduct: Breaking the Silence is a compelling indictment of Roman Catholic teachings on homosexuality and sexuality. Inspired by The Silence of Sodom: Homosexuality in Modern Catholicism, Mark Jordan’s controversial examination of homoeroticism in American Catholic culture, this groundbreaking book examines how the current crisis of clerical abuse affects and stigmatizes gay priests living in a climate of hysteria and condemnation. The book’s contributors, an eclectic mix of scholars and clerics, question whether the church can survive centuries of secrets and scandals. In the wake of very real concerns about a possible inquisition launched by the Catholic Church against its gay members, Gay Catholic Priests and Clerical Sexual Misconduct continues the efforts of the Gay Men’s Issues in Religion Group of the American Academy of Religion to honor the work of Mark Jordan, who contributes his thoughts on the issues raised by the book. A panel of former Jesuits, a former seminarian with the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, a Dominican, a Franciscan, and several feminist authors present different perspectives on gay priests, clerical/ecclesial misogyny, games of power and abuse, and religious scapegoating, writing with eloquence and pain, a great deal of pride, and a touch of justifiable divine righteousness. Gay Catholic Priests and Clerical Sexual Misconduct includes:“Celibate Men, Ambivalent Saints, and Games of Desire”, “A Call to Liberation of Gay Catholic Clergy”, “Speaking Loud or Shutting Up: The Homosexual-type Problem”, “Those Troubling Gay Priests”, “Catholicism and a Crisis of Intimate Relations” and much more! Gay Catholic Priests and Clerical Sexual Misconduct: Breaking the Silence is an invaluable resource for academics, members of the clergy, seminarians, chaplains and counselors, and anyone interested in homosexuality and religion.

Child Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church

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Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199328978
Total Pages : 386 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (993 download)

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Book Synopsis Child Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church by : Marie Keenan

Download or read book Child Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church written by Marie Keenan and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-07-18 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A meticulously researched inside look at child sexual abuse by clergy, this exhaustive, hard-hitting analysis weaves together interviews with abusive priests and church historical and administrative details to propose a new way of thinking about clerical sexual offenders. Linking the personal and the institutional, researcher and therapist Marie Keenan locates the problem of child sexual abuse not exclusively in individual pathology, but also within larger systemic factors, such as the very institution of priesthood itself, the Catholic take on sexuality, clerical culture, power relations, governance structures of the Catholic Church, the process of formation for priesthood and religious life, and the complex manner in which these factors coalesce to create serious institutional risks for boundary violations, including child sexual abuse. Keenan draws on the priests' own words not to excuse their horrific crimes, but to offer the first in-depth account of a tragic, multi-faceted phenomenon. What emerges is a troubling portrait of a Church in crisis and a series of recommendations that call for nothing less than a new ecclesiology and a new, more critical theology. Only through radical institutional reform, Keenan argues, can a more representative and accountable Church emerge. Child Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church is a unique reference for scholars of the Church and therapists who work with both victims and offenders, as well as a forward-thinking blueprint for reform.

The Priest Is Not His Own

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Author :
Publisher : Ravenio Books
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis The Priest Is Not His Own by : Fulton J. Sheen

Download or read book The Priest Is Not His Own written by Fulton J. Sheen and published by Ravenio Books. This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most books on the priesthood may be grouped into three categories: theological, pastoral and sociological. The theological treatises emphasize the priest as the minister and ambassador of Christ; the pastoral writings are concerned with the priest in the pulpit, the priest in the confessional, the priest at prayer, etc. The sociological writings, which are the latest type, refrain almost entirely from the spiritual and are concerned with the statistical study of the reaction of the faithful, the unbelievers and the general public to the priest. Is there room for another category? Such a possibility presented itself in writing our Life of Christ. In that book, we tried to show that, unlike anyone else, Our Lord came on earth not to live but to die. Death for our Redemption was the goal of His sojourn here, the gold that He was seeking. Every parable, every incident in His life—even the call of the Apostles, the temptation, the Transfiguration, the long conversation with the woman at the well—was focused upon that salutary death. He was, therefore, not primarily a teacher, but a Savior. The dark days in which that Life of Christ was written were hours when ink and gall did mix to reveal the mystery of the Crucifix. More and more that vision of Christ as Savior began to illumine the priesthood, and out of it came the thoughts in this book. To save anyone from reading it through, we here state briefly the thesis. We who have received the Sacrament of Orders call ourselves “priests”. The author does not recall any priest ever having said, “I was ordained a ‘victim’ ”, nor did he ever say, “I am studying to be a victim.” That seemed almost alien to being a priest. The seminary always told us to be “good” priests; never were we told to be willing victims. And yet was not Christ, the Priest, a Victim? Did He not come to die? He did not offer a lamb, a bullock or doves; He never offered anything except Himself. He gave Himself up on our behalf, a sacrifice breathing out fragrance as He offered it to God. (Ephesians 5:2) Pagan priests, Old Testament priests, medicine men, all offered a sacrifice apart from themselves. But not Our Lord. He was Sacerdos-Victima. This being so, just as we miss much in the life of Christ by not showing that the shadow of the Cross cast itself even over the crib and the carpenter shop as well as over His public life, so we have a mutilated concept of our priesthood if we envisage it apart from making ourselves victims in the prolongation of His Incarnation. There is nothing else in this book but that idea. And if the reader would like to hear that chord struck a hundred times, he may now proceed.